sig
oneself
Definition & meaning
sig is the Swedish reflexive pronoun meaning “himself,” “herself,” “itself,” “themselves,” or sometimes “oneself.”
It is used when the object of a verb refers back to the subject of the same clause:
- Han tvättar sig. — “He washes himself.”
- Hon skadar sig. — “She injures herself.”
- De försvarar sig. — “They defend themselves.”
Unlike English, Swedish uses the same form sig for third-person singular and plural subjects, regardless of gender.
It can also follow a preposition:
- Han tänker på sig själv. — “He is thinking about himself.”
- De pratade om sig. — “They talked about themselves.”
sig själv means “oneself” or “himself/herself/themselves” with emphasis. The word själv adds emphasis and literally means “self.”
Grammar & Word origin
sig is a third-person reflexive object pronoun. It is used as the object of a verb or preposition when the object refers to the subject.
It has no separate masculine, feminine, neuter, or plural forms:
- han → sig
- hon → sig
- den/det → sig
- de → sig
It is a single pronoun rather than a word formed from productive modern Swedish parts. Historically, it developed from Old Swedish sik and is related to the reflexive pronoun found in other Germanic languages.
The related reflexive possessive forms are:
- sin — “his/her/its/their own” before an en-word
- sitt — “his/her/its/their own” before an ett-word
- sina — “his/her/its/their own” before a plural noun
Example: Han tog sin bok. — “He took his own book.”
Synonyms & antonyms
There is no exact synonym or antonym for sig, because it is a grammatical reflexive pronoun.
The main contrast is with non-reflexive object pronouns:
Compare:
- Han tvättar sig. — “He washes himself.”
- Han tvättar honom. — “He washes him,” meaning another male person.
Thus, sig refers back to the subject, while honom, henne, and dem normally refer to someone or something else.
Common phrases & collocations
- ta sig — “get oneself,” “manage to get,” or “make one’s way”
- känna sig — “feel”
- lägga sig — “lie down” or “go to bed”
- sätta sig — “sit down”
- gifta sig — “get married”
- skynda sig — “hurry”
- bestämma sig — “make up one’s mind” or “decide”
- ta hand om sig — “take care of oneself”
- i sig — “in itself” or “per se”
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Examples
Lisa sätter sig på stolen.pronoun
Lisa sits down on the chair.
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